President Trump and the
Republican Congress have created chaos in their politically-motivated takeover
of our health care system, raising costs and reducing access to quality
coverage

Republicans
failed to pass their radical Trumpcare bills in Congress last year, which would
have removed important consumer protections for people with pre-existing
conditions, left tens of millions uninsured, and raised health care costs on
millions more. However, despite their failure, President Trump, his
administration, and Congressional Republicans have taken several other concrete
steps to dramatically change and undermine health care in our country, raising
costs on millions of American families and reducing access to quality coverage.

Over
the next few months, states will announce proposed health insurance premium
rates for 2019, and it is important to remember that President Trump and
Congressional Republicans are fully responsible for the significantly higher
premiums and millions fewer people insured.

Trumpcare
is very much alive today—and patients and families are paying the price.

From
Day One, President Trump and Republicans in Congress Have Sabotaged the Health
Care System to Score Political Points, While Increasing Costs on American
Families

January
2017:
On Day One, President Trump Signed an Executive Order to Raise Costs, Reduce
Quality Care:
President Trump’s first action as president was to sign an executive
order directing the Secretary of HHS and other federal departments and
agencies to repeal and undermine the ACA “to the maximum extent permitted by
law.”

September
2017:
President Trump Cut off Cost Sharing Reduction (CSR) Payments: After months of threats that
destabilized the markets, President Trump abruptly cut
off cost sharing reduction (CSR) payments in September 2017, sending a
shockwave of uncertainty and confusion through the marketplaces just as 2018
rates were being finalized.

Fall
2017:
The Trump Administration Cut Open Enrollment, Slashed Funding to Assist
Americans Signing Up for Insurance: The Trump administration cut
open enrollment in half and slashed
funding for advertising and outreach, which are disproportionately used by
low-income families, communities of color, and people who don’t speak English
as a first language.

December
2017:
Republicans in Congress Repealed the Health Coverage Requirement: Republicans in Congress
helped fund their massive tax giveaway to corporations and the wealthiest few
with savings from foregone and funding that help low and middle-income people
afford insurance and Medicaid when they repealed the ACA’s health coverage
requirement, which the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office concluded
will result in:

·4
million more uninsured Americans by 2019, and

·Premiums
that will be 10% higher each year.

October
2017-Feburary 2018: The Trump Administration is Moving to Expand Junk Health
Insurance Plans, Dividing Healthy and Sick and Raising Costs on Americans with
Preexisting Conditions: In October 2017, President Trump signed an executive
order to expand association and short-term (junk) plans, which would raise
costs on those with preexisting conditions and older Americans, gut
consumer protections, and divide the health care market between the healthy and
the sick. Following instructions from this executive order, the Trump
administration issued a proposed regulation in February 2018 to expand
short-term limited duration insurance. These plans can:

·Charge
higher premiums, or outright reject Americans based on a pre-existing
condition;

·Impose
lifetime and annual limits that allow insurance companies to stop covering
people when they get sick;

Endorsing
junk insurance, combined with the effects of last year’s tax bill and other
administration sabotage, will increase
premiums in the individual marketplaces an average of 18.2 percent, making
health care that much more expensive for those people with pre-existing
conditions who most need access to affordable, quality health care.

April
2018:
The Trump Administration’s Rules for the 2019 Marketplace Will Put Insurance
Companies Back in Charge, Gut Consumer Protections and Increase Costs: In April, the Department
of Health and Human Services finalized their rules
for the 2019 health care marketplaces. Included in their rules:

·Fewer
benefits covered
and a ceiling on the quality of benefits. The “essential health benefits”
currently required under our health care system like maternity care, mental
health care, and other benefits can be watered down by states, and states are
not allowed to require plans to offer more generous benefits to consumers if
they choose.

·Greatly
reduced outreach funding and support. For the first time, consumers will not
have guaranteed access to face-to-face insurance enrollment assistance and may
have substantially limited access to consumer assistance via phone or other
means.

·Decreased
oversight
of insurance companies, making it easier for them to raise premiums and
restrict Americans’ choice of doctors. The rules open the door to letting
insurers spend more on executive pay, marketing, and administrative overhead
and less on consumers’ medical claims. At the same time, these companies are
reaping billions from the corporate windfall that is the Trump-Republican tax
bill.

·Added
red tape, creating more hoops to jump through and making it harder for working
families to access and keep needed health coverage and financial assistance.

Fall
2017-Present:
Republican Leaders in Congress Repeatedly Blocked Good-faith, Bipartisan
Efforts to Lower Premiums—Instead Opting to Try to Jam Through their Radical
Trumpcare Bills:
Starting in 2017, Republican leaders refused to bring a bipartisan bill to
lower premiums and stabilize markets, which had the support of every Senate
Democrat and twelve Republicans, to the Senate floor for a vote. In 2018,
rather than continuing to work with Democrats on bipartisan solutions to
improve access to affordable care, they proposed a bill that creates more
problems than it solves and could leave millions paying much more for worse
coverage than they have today. Ultimately, they refused to include bipartisan
legislation in this year’s omnibus bill, making it impossible to lower premiums
this year.

The
Year Ahead

2018-2019: Everyone who cares about
improving health care – including hundreds of patient groups, hospitals,
doctors, insurers, actuaries and policy experts – have clearly stated that the
actions taken by President Trump and Republicans in Congress will raise costs
and reduce access to health care. Their words have fallen on deaf ears. In the
weeks and months ahead as each state releases proposed health insurance rates
for plans on the marketplace next year, we can expect to see premium increases
across the country. Those higher health care costs and the increased risk of
insurers pulling out of markets are thanks to the actions taken by President
Trump, his administration, and Republicans in Congress.

Important
health care dates to keep in mind:

·State
deadlines for submitting proposed rates mostly fall between May 1 and
July 31, 2018.

·Insurers
must confirm market participation with the federal government in September
2018.

In
fact, proposed premium rates from Virginia and Maryland released so far
demonstrate the average double-digit percentage premium increases that
insurance companies are requesting due to the actions taken by the Trump
administration and Republican Congress.

Virginia: Higher Rates Due to
Trump Administration Policies: “Both Cigna and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield
cited policies advocated by the Trump administration, including the repeal of
ObamaCare's individual mandate, as part of its justifications for the increases.
Cigna is proposing an average premium increase of 15 percent for its 103,264
customers in Virginia, with a range of increases from 6.4 percent to 40
percent. CareFirst is proposing a 64 percent increase for its approximately
4,500 customers in the commonwealth, citing an increase in sicker people
entering the marketplace.” [The Hill, 5/4/18]

Millions
More Uninsured: “The
Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit foundation focused on health-care issues,
announced last week that the rate of working-age Americans without health
insurance in the group’s annual survey rose to 15.5 percent, up about three
percentage points since 2016. Things are worse in the 19 holdout states,
such as Virginia, that have refused to expand their Medicaid programs: The rate
of uninsured working-age Americans hit 21.9 percent in those areas, up nearly
six percentage points over two years…During the campaign, Mr. Trump
regularly complained that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) left too many Americans
uncovered. The result of nearly a year and a half of Mr. Trump’s leadership
is 4 million people added to that group.” [The Washington Post Editorial, 5/7/18]

Maryland: Double-Digit Percentage
Rate Increases Proposed Due to Eliminating Coverage Requirement: “Carefirst is seeking an
average rate increase of 18.5 percent for its HMO-style plan, which covers
about 123,000 people. Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States has asked
for an average increase of 37.4 percent for its HMO plan, which covers about
74,000 Marylanders…Kaiser Permanente said in a statement that it is trying to
ensure it can sustain high-quality care over the long run. ‘These proposed
rates reflect the expected costs of providing coverage for these members,
including the impact of eliminating the individual mandate penalty,’ the
company said.” [Baltimore Sun, 5/8/18]

Kaiser
Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States, Proposing a 37% Rate
Increase, Cites Removal of Coverage
Requirement:
“The rate changes for the plans renewing in 2019 are primarily driven by the
claims experience of the single risk pool, medical inflation, taxes and fees
imposed on the issuer, membership changes resulting from the removal of the
Individual Mandate, and anticipated changes in payments from and
contributions to the Federal Risk Adjustment Program.” [5/7/18, Part
III Actuarial Memorandum and Certification]

REMINDER: PRESIDENT
TRUMP’S BROKEN PROMISES TO HAVE “INSURANCE FOR EVERYBODY”, “FAR LESS EXPENSIVE
AND FAR BETTER” HEALTH CARE

Then-President-Elect
Donald Trump: “’We’re
going to have insurance for everybody,’ Trump said. ‘There was a philosophy in
some circles that if you can’t pay for it, you don’t get it. That’s not going
to happen with us.’” [Washington Post, 1/15/17]

Then-Candidate
Donald Trump: “[We
will undertake] repealing Obamacare and replacing it with something far better
for the people, and far less expensive both for the people and the
country.” [Iowa Freedom Summit, 1/24/15]

Then-President-Elect Donald Trump: “We’re going to have a health
care that is far less expensive and far better.” [President-Elect Trump
Press Conference, 1/11/17]

Then-Candidate
Donald Trump:
“Everybody’s going to be taken care of much better than they’re taken
care of now [under the Obamacare replacement].”[60 Minutes, CBS, 9/27/15]

Then-President-Elect
Donald Trump: QUESTION:
“Let me ask you about Obamacare, which you say you’re going to repeal and
replace. When you replace it, are you going to make sure that people with
pre-conditions are still covered?” TRUMP: “Yes, because it happens to be
one of the strongest assets…” [60 Minutes, CBS, 11/13/16]

President
Trump:
“First, we should ensure that Americans with pre-existing conditions have
access to coverage and that we have a stable transition for Americans currently
enrolled in the healthcare exchanges.” [Trump Address to Joint Session of
Congress, 2/28/17]

Then-President-Elect
Donald Trump: QUESTION:
“Let me ask you about Obamacare, which you say you’re going to repeal and
replace. When you replace it, are you going to make sure that people with
pre-conditions are still covered?” TRUMP: “Yes, because it happens to be
one of the strongest assets…” [60 Minutes, CBS, 11/13/16]

President
Trump:
“First, we should ensure that Americans with pre-existing conditions have
access to coverage and that we have a stable transition for Americans currently
enrolled in the healthcare exchanges.” [Trump Address to Joint Session of
Congress, 2/28/17]